By KATH GANNAWAY
WITH a cast of around 700 runners, improvements to the running track and the introduction of the first half marathon event and electronic timing, the 11th Warburton Up and Running Fun Run was tipped to be the best ever.
And, according to spokeswoman Sue Hoffman, it was.
Sue said all the planning along with great support from the business community and the CFA and SES volunteers, topped by perfect running weather – cool and sunny – it all came together for a hugely successful and enjoyable day.
“Two of our perennial problems, parking and timing, were solved with the Crockett Group giving us access to the resort area for parking and Tomato Timing coming on board with electronic timing.
“They were brilliant, the results were up on their website within an hour of the end of the event,” she said.
Sue said the event was a mix of locals and visitors, with one runner coming from Switzerland and lots of others coming from all around Melbourne and further afield.
Runner Simon Holloway did his first half marathon at Warburton and in a ‘thank you’ to the organisers said he was looking forward to repeating the experience next year.
“It is a major credit to the Warburton community to be able to put on such a well-organised, professional and efficient running event. There was nothing that could have been better planned or delivered on the day,” he said.
Sue said the involvement of families and children was a focus of the event and that demographic was also building each year.
“Our oldest competitor, Colin Steer, from Launching Place is 80 years old, and two other Steer family members also competed successfully, Asha in the 5km and Lania in the 10km.
“We even had some quite small children in the longer distances this year. Our youngest competitor was seven in the 5km walk, but there were also a number of toddlers in prams who completed the walk,” she said.
The youngest competitor in the 10km was Ashleigh Gasson, 9, from Emerald and the fastest team in the 10km event was Croydon Masters Athletics Club.
Warburton Up and Running is held on the last Sunday of February each year.
See more Up and Running photos on the Mail on-line at mail.starcommunity.com.au.
The link for results is http://tomatotiming.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=16&RId=28165
